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OC Council Approves Event Permits

OCEAN CITY – A number of private event permits were approved last week by the Mayor and City Council, including a couple of new additions.

The town approved the Delaware Volleyball Academy’s (DVA) request to hold a tournament on the beach from 20th to 23rd streets this summer, with 100 estimated participants and 150 spectators.

The Delaware Volleyball BeachFest is a new element added to a two-day event, July 6-7, starting with an outdoor skills clinic followed by the beach tournament the next day.

According to DVA President Rich Comly, DVA is a non-profit organization working with junior female athletes, ages 10 through 18. The DVA currently has 16 club teams and are members of the Chesapeake Region Volleyball Association and of USA Volleyball.

DVA’s mission is to provide a comprehensive training program that allows athlete’s to grow with a commitment to hard work, a positive attitude, enthusiasm and passion for the game of volleyball. They strive to help each and every athlete regardless of age or ability to achieve maximum performance while preparing them to play at the next level.

Founded in 2008, DVA’s vision is bringing together an organization of volleyball professionals to offer a program from the grass roots up to give a kids on the east coast a chance to compete at the highest levels of competitive volleyball.

Comly said the DVA has held two-day tournaments in Ocean City on two different weekends in the past. The tournaments have grown from 35 to 50 teams.

He added that the tournaments have resulted in 1,000 room reservations and about $750,000 to $1 million of an economic impact in town and are looking to use the Roland E. Powell Convention Center eventually as the indoor events continue to grow.

“What we would like to do here in Ocean City is start our beach program for junior athletes,” Comly said. “It is AAU qualifier, so any of the teams that win get to go to Florida to participate as part of a series of three events that we do. One here and two back in Wilmington, Del. We felt that it is important because the NCAA started it as a varsity sport, we feel like this is a future platform because they also have programs that are fully funded scholarships for athletes, for woman.”

The Brotherhood Block Party, July 19, was also approved to return to Ocean City with a new outdoor venue. It is a fundraising event hosted by the Ocean City Fraternal Order of Leatherheads Society (FOOLS), in partnership with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

The event would begin with the Baltimore Pipes & Drums band performance and parade down the Boardwalk from N. Division Street to Wicomico Street, where the block party will take place.

The request included shutting down a block of Wicomico Street where three businesses, The Pour House, The Bearded Clam and The Cork Bar, will participate and attendees will be admitted through a single point of entrance. About 500-600 attendees are expected.

“The event has been going on successfully for the last couple of years and the premise behind it is a fundraiser for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation,” Roger Steger of FOOLS International said. “In the last two years, we have been able to raise $10,000 from the proceeds of not only this event but also the St. Patrick’s Day event that we have had.”

Next, the town approved the Ocean City Maryland 5-Mile Boardwalk Run on June 2, as well as the American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Pink Ribbon 5K Walk/Run on Oct. 20, both of which are returning events.